Mercy Street - General Discussion

[LiveenLetLive]

I wonder what the actors thought about the lynching scene, it was pretty horrifying 

[howiveaddict]

I once saw on a show, or read, that John Wilke's Boothe's brother was the more popular, better actor and there was sibling rivalry between the two. So, he may not been as known at that time. Of course I think I may have heard this on Drunk History so, who knows.

[hoosiermommy]

Not that I think it was just for Mr. Green to have been arrested but why didn't he hurriedly sign the Oath as soon as they left? He'd already said he'd done it in front of his objecting family and the soldier's own mother so what would it have hurt him to have done so? Didn't he think they'd  have checked it out? So, with the putative owner of the property being arrested, does this mean the Greens are now entirely homeless and will that Confederate grave be disinterred?

    Yes, I agree Silas deserves to pay for what he did to Aurelia, framing Samuel in addition to being horrible at his appointed job of distributing food, medicine and supplies to the wounded and medical staff!

   Sad that Samuel had to leave (and will Dr. Foster step up to protect Aurelia from Silas) but, Silas virtually signed the man's death warrant so he had no choice. Who was the older woman in Silas's quarters who told what happened- his mother, perhaps?

    Surprised that Mary would have greenlighted the   camp followers to entertain the wounded (and that she wouldn't have known the contemporary euphemisms but used the actual term prostitute).  I guess we're to believe that with all the hubbub over the escaped prisoner, then the surprise inspection, Aurelia's emergency surgery somehow got overlooked.

    I hope somehow Aurelia WILL beat the odds and be reunited with her son Gabriel but those odds were incredible.

     I know that Mr. Booth had a very long simmering hatred for President Lincoln and all he felt he stood for but was he plotting to do the President in this early? Good that they showed that Mr. Booth was somewhat Elvis-like re popularity back then.

 

I don't believe it was that Mary greenlighted the camp followers to entertain the men.  Just that she understood that men would visit prostitutes and it was a matter of hygiene to treat them for their "social diseases" so that when their services were used they would be clean.

[hoosiermommy]

I once saw on a show, or read, that John Wilke's Boothe's brother was the more popular, better actor and there was sibling rivalry between the two. So, he may not been as known at that time. Of course I think I may have heard this on Drunk History so, who knows.

John Wilkes was definitely the less popular Booth.  His father, Junius, was famous and his brother Edwin was considered by some to be this country's best actor.  Ever. 

 

His inclusion here seems gratuitous.  He was in Boston on stage when this was supposed to have happened, so what do they gain by introducing him here and now?  We all know the plot will fail.  We couldn't have an unknown conspirator?

 

And the Knights of the Golden Circle were not a spy ring, but were instead dedicated to spreading slavery to the west and southwest. 

[stanleyk]

I feel like I'm seeing this show through out of duty, not out of any real interest. I usually love all of the PBS stuff, but I think I'll give myself permission to quit this one. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think my issue with the show is that much of the acting is noticeably sub-par. Most of the main characters aren't bad, but many of the tertiary characters are either struggling with accent work or with the old-timey language...or they're just not great actors. Case in point: the lynching brothers in this last episode. Or the blonde Green daughter. Or the Green son. Or Olivia de Havilland/the other Green daughter. Or Frank. Or most of the patients. I just can't get past the accents on the women in particular. I grew up in Alexandria, and obviously a lot changed in a hundred-plus years, but I didn't know a single person who talked in that "Ah do DECLARE" Deep South accent. It's embarrassing. For them.

 

And I think because I'm vaguely embarrassed for everyone, it's hard to get invested in the plots or characters. And because it's hard to get invested in the plots or characters, the moments of high drama feel hollow and unearned. Like the burial of Tom - I didn't care where he was buried. I didn't care that the characters cared where he was buried. So the stand-off at the grave and the noble, rebellious digging and whatnot...didn't care. Not to mention the plot holes. A high-ranking officer, who was in the hospital with an armed guard, is smothered and his papers taken and...no one ever mentions it again? The guards never point out that they let this random dentist into see him and then suddenly he got dead? No one investigates the stolen papers?

 

So, ugh. Nurse Mary and Doctor Ted have grown on me. That's all I can say. I wish they'd tightened the focus of the show: done a case-of-the-week sort of thing, not gone so far outside the hospital, dropped the boring, unsympathetic Green family entirely. And, really, an assassination plot? That we all know will fail? Focus up, show! 

[LiveenLetLive]

re accents, the southern accent has flattened in recent decades (as have many regional accents with people moving around, access to the media, etc), if you listen to a southerner of great age (historian Shelby Foote born in 1916, and in Burn's doc about WW2, there was one woman from the south who also strongly had one of these old timey southern drawals) , you will hear a more distinct accent--I am sure that they have a coach who tries to get some accuracy into the accents. As for the anachronisms, I overlook them--I watch Downton Abbey too so that makes it easy enough, LOL.

[Milz]

I once saw on a show, or read, that John Wilke's Boothe's brother was the more popular, better actor and there was sibling rivalry between the two. So, he may not been as known at that time. Of course I think I may have heard this on Drunk History so, who knows.

 

Read American Brutus by Michael Kauffman. It's all about John Wilkes Booth.

[blackwing]

I really enjoyed this episode, and am surprised how much this series has grown on me.  Hard to believe that after the first episode I was ready to give this a pass, and now, with only one episode left, I am hoping it gets renewed.

 

I agree that the John Wilkes Booth appearance is a bit much, but the rest was good.  I am curious as to why Dr. Foster didn't tell the dead soldier's brothers that Bullen was almost certainly the one who stole the goods.

 

I watched this episode online, and even after turning up the brightness, I found the lighting very dark.  When Dr. Foster rode out to Samuel's shack in the woods, he came across a woman who said that they took him.  I couldn't tell how old that woman was because of the lighting, but are we to assume she is his mother?  I initially thought she could be his wife, which then made me wonder why he was so interested in Aurelia, other than some kind of brotherly kindness.  Is he supposed to be from Alexandria and lives with his mother at home?  For some reason I thought he was a northerner and thus always proud of his status as a freeman who somehow ended up in Virginia.

[jschoolgirl]

Samuel lived in Philadelphia; I think he came South to aid Union wounded, perhaps with the doctor who mentored him.

[hoosiermommy]

I really enjoyed this episode, and am surprised how much this series has grown on me.  Hard to believe that after the first episode I was ready to give this a pass, and now, with only one episode left, I am hoping it gets renewed.

 

I agree that the John Wilkes Booth appearance is a bit much, but the rest was good.  I am curious as to why Dr. Foster didn't tell the dead soldier's brothers that Bullen was almost certainly the one who stole the goods.

 

I watched this episode online, and even after turning up the brightness, I found the lighting very dark.  When Dr. Foster rode out to Samuel's shack in the woods, he came across a woman who said that they took him.  I couldn't tell how old that woman was because of the lighting, but are we to assume she is his mother?  I initially thought she could be his wife, which then made me wonder why he was so interested in Aurelia, other than some kind of brotherly kindness.  Is he supposed to be from Alexandria and lives with his mother at home?  For some reason I thought he was a northerner and thus always proud of his status as a freeman who somehow ended up in Virginia.

I think the woman was Aurelia.

[blackwing]

I think the woman was Aurelia.

 

Wasn't she still recovering from her self-abortion?  I thought she was in a bed in a room in the basement of the hospital, or something like that.  And if it was her, are we to assume that she lives with Samuel too?  Or was she just visiting so soon after her operation?  Samuel confronted Bullen the day after the operation and told Bullen that she almost died.  She looked in pretty bad shape earlier in the episode, I find it hard to believe that Foster would say she was OK to get out of bed.

 

If she was OK to leave and she lives with him in the shack, then it doesn't make sense to me that he is romancing her at their mutual workplace, as he would have plenty of time to talk with her without bothering her when she is working.  I'm going to have to rewatch again online and see if I can figure out who the woman was.

 

I forget, that teenage boy who was told by someone that he was now free and left the gates (and is seen jubilantly running in the opening credits).  Who was he again?  I am a bit surprised we haven't seen him again.  I guess there is one episode left, something could always happen.

[jschoolgirl]

That boy was Miles, a slave owned by Jed's mother.

[pasdetrois]

 

I feel like I'm seeing this show through out of duty, not out of any real interest. I usually love all of the PBS stuff, but I think I'll give myself permission to quit this one. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think my issue with the show is that much of the acting is noticeably sub-par.

Same here. In this latest episode, some of the acting was noticeably bad. Part of the cause may be them shooting so much action within the confines of a crowded facility. I can envision some of the less experienced actors concentrating mightily not to crash into a bed or wall as all those huge hoop skirts go flying by. I do think the actors playing Foster, Sam, Aurelia, and the toady doctor who wants to be XO are doing a pretty good job.

 

 

if you listen to a southerner of great age (historian Shelby Foote born in 1916, and in Burn's doc about WW2, there was one woman from the south who also strongly had one of these old timey southern drawals)

 

My mother and her siblings had that accent. It's vanishing from the earth, which is a great shame. The woman who plays Gary Cole's wife has the faintest trace of it.

[AzureOwl]

Surprised that Mary would have greenlighted the   camp followers to entertain the wounded (and that she wouldn't have known the contemporary euphemisms but used the actual term prostitute).  

 

Mary is trying to implement a hygiene program for the prostitutes so the men don't catch diseases from them. Prostitution was pretty much considered a fact of life back then, I believe.  

[Blergh]

In the 19th century, the 'treatment' for syphilis  and gonorrhea was with mercury which only made the patient worse and I'm not sure it would have prevented the spread. Also, even if Mary somehow had 'cured' these particular prostitutes, that wouldn't have prevented the soldiers from finding others who hadn't been cured. In any case, it just seemed a bit OOC and from a future century for Mary to have taken this course of action.

[Dirtybubble]

Mary is trying to implement a hygiene program for the prostitutes so the men don't catch diseases from them. Prostitution was pretty much considered a fact of life back then, I believe.  

This story line was confusing to me.  Why did Mary agree to have these women at the hospital again?  I got the impression to cheer up the soldiers....what?

 

Also, even if Mary somehow had 'cured' these particular prostitutes, that wouldn't have prevented the soldiers from finding others who hadn't been cured. In any case, it just seemed a bit OOC and from a future century for Mary to have taken this course of action.

Huh?  Meh I didn't understand this at all and the only real reason I saw to put them in the story was so one of the "ladies" could "talk" to the hospital inspector and convince him of something.  Wow am I confused and probably naive.  =(

 

I've become Phoster shipper trash. The tension and flirtyness was definitely there. I hope Mary keeps in mind that Foster is technically still married, because I'm fully expecting his wife to return in season 2 or whenever to throw a wrench in their developing relationship.

 

Me too!  I'm a sucker for so called unexpected romance and I do like the way their relationship has developed.  It keeps the idea that this is 1862 in focus and they aren't jumping into the sack too quickly.  A nice slow but steady burn--how sweet!  And it does help that Dr. Foster is a cutie pie!  Meow.  I didn't like him on HIMYM and was worried here but he looks extremely handsome with the facial hair.

 

I am also enjoying Dr. Hale and Dr. Summers' characters a lot more than I thought I would.  Actually I'm enjoying almost all the characters good and bad--Matron Brannan has got a sass to her that I love and to be honest we need a really hateful evil character that everyone wants to punch and lawd that has to be Silas. 

 

 

 

 

 

[izabella]

The prostitutes were at the hospital for check-ups to make sure they didn't have STD's, and if they did, to treat them.  (I have no idea what the treatment was back then since they did not have antibiotics...)

 

The point was that the soldiers stationed in Alexandria were never, ever going to stop going to prostitutes, and thus both the men and the women were getting infected and spreading the STD's around to all the other soldiers and prostitutes.  So the hospital was trying to minimize the STD's because they kept the soldiers away from the front for a long time, and of course, had long lasting repercussions on their health, sexual and otherwise.

 

Mary and Dr. Foster made the point to the visiting inspector that treating the women at the hospital was, ultimately, a means toward better health for the soldiers.

[Milz]

The writers probably read Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-curious-case-of-nashvilles-frail-sisterhood-7766757/?no-ist

[nara]

Good question!  They introduced him and then he disappeared.

 

I'm loving Luke Macfarlane as the chaplain.  He is so caring, regardless of what side of the war people are on, and the least selfish of them all.  I'm glad he spoke up about the suicide.

I think that young man was only there to demonstrate Mary's superior fortitude.

I also love the chaplain. I wonder how Emma's family will react when she decides to marry him--because things are definitely heading in that direction!

[hoosiermommy]

Wasn't she still recovering from her self-abortion?  I thought she was in a bed in a room in the basement of the hospital, or something like that.  And if it was her, are we to assume that she lives with Samuel too?  Or was she just visiting so soon after her operation?  Samuel confronted Bullen the day after the operation and told Bullen that she almost died.  She looked in pretty bad shape earlier in the episode, I find it hard to believe that Foster would say she was OK to get out of bed.

 

If she was OK to leave and she lives with him in the shack, then it doesn't make sense to me that he is romancing her at their mutual workplace, as he would have plenty of time to talk with her without bothering her when she is working.  I'm going to have to rewatch again online and see if I can figure out who the woman was.

 

I forget, that teenage boy who was told by someone that he was now free and left the gates (and is seen jubilantly running in the opening credits).  Who was he again?  I am a bit surprised we haven't seen him again.  I guess there is one episode left, something could always happen.

 

IIRC, she was on the floor in the hallway, and looked like she wasn't healthy.  I took it that she had been moved (they couldn't keep her a secret in the hospital for a long time), to recover.  And where better than with a man who knew medicine.  I doubt she was "OK to leave" and that wagon ride to move her to a "safe space" away from Bullen and people who would have found her out would have been nothing short of excruciating.

 

I did not take it at all that she was living with Samuel before her attack, it was just a remote, secret place for her to recover.

[hoosiermommy]

That was another way, but it would have taken up a whole lot of time. No Panama Canal at that time, so the ship would have had to go around Cape Horn.

Or she could go to Panama, cross the isthmus by land, and get on a boat at a Panamanian port on the Pacific.  They didn't have to travel all the way around Cape Horn.  It turns out that General Albert Sidney Johnston made that same journey (across the isthmus) to California, and arrived in January 1861, just in time to be called back east to join the Confederate army.

[Hero]

I really like this show. Yes, the acting is sometimes not so great, but I think it's interesting. I love history and I think it's interesting and sad at all the horrific things that these soldiers went through while fighting the war.

I'm surprised that I like Josh Radnor on this. I think HIMYM jaded me a little bit.

I actually find him really attractive. His beard makes a huge difference.

[jschoolgirl]

I don't know anything about Gary Cole or his other work, but he is portraying James as pretty unsympathetic, IMO.

James is coming across as weak -- a stereotypical malarial-seeming, overly languid Southerner, rather than someone battling with a moral tightrope.

Leslie Howard had more oomph portraying Ashley Wilkes, and that's not saying much.

[dargosmydaddy]

 

I feel like I'm seeing this show through out of duty, not out of any real interest.

This. There are a few decent moments, but overall it's pretty blah... I'm half hoping that they kill off the chaplain tonight, because I think at this point I'm only sticking around for Luke MacFarlane. 

[Hamatron]

Huh. So they didn't kill Lincoln. What a nail biter.

[howiveaddict]

 

Huh. So they didn't kill Lincoln. What a nail biter.

I was on the edge of my seat wondering if he would live or die!

 

[jschoolgirl]

How convenient that Aurelia's family found where she was staying! And that train -- miraculous that she hadn't boarded!

And Alice, the hothouse flower, joining the Knights? Please.

[LittleIggy]

Huh. So they didn't kill Lincoln. What a nail biter.

Well, geeze, when you watched "Apollo 13" were you in suspense over whether the astronauts would make it? I enjoyed the episode (Silas got his just deserts) and the series.

[Hamatron]

Sometimes it's more fun when you know how it plays out. Sometimes it just doesn't work because the writers fail to build around what audiences already know. I was just being silly here.

I wanted this series to be good, but I just cared less with each passing episode.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Hamatron

[HoodlumSheep]

I enjoyed the episode! It's past midnight here, though, so I'll save my opinions and thoughts for tomorrow.

Very happy that Silas is dead.

[henripootel]

Very happy that Silas is dead.

Well, we don't know for sure that he is.  Was looking a bit poorly there, so there's hope.

 

Much as I enjoy costume dramas, I'm running out of enthusiasm for this show.  It's not bad but I'm just not sure how much I care about Gary Cole's family or ... pretty much anyone.  And I'm starting to sympathize with those at the time who simply couldn't believe how long the war dragged on.  Stuff just keeps happening without much end in sight. 

[StaceyNotStacie]

I liked it, although I'm not sure my dvr recorded the first few minutes (it said 10:30 instead of 10, but I think it started earlier because the program was finished 45 minutes into the recording and I had no opening credits).

I'm looking forward to the next season.

[Blergh]

In spite of the many anachronisms already enumerated in this Forum, I can't say I was surprised that this series didn't quite have the . .  .nerve to totally change history by having the Gunpowder Plot succeed re blowing President Lincoln to Kingdom Come  long before Appomattox was in the realm of possibility.  A little irony in that Frank throwing himself on the fuse to keep Emma  alone from being killed wasn't too dissimilar to how the REAL Gunpowder Plot back in England got foiled due to one of the plotters wanting to keep a cousin from being blown up in Parliament by writing a letter begging the cousin to stay away but the cousin got alarmed enough to tip off the authorities who stopped the plot and had the participants executed. Why the need to have John Wilkes Booth be in on it and what exactly did he do besides urge Frank on?

 

   Although I know the odds of having Aurelia's family finding where she was going and meeting up with her before she was due to leave for parts unknown to all but Mary herself were incredulous, considering ALL that Aurelia had gone through in Alexandria, I'm glad she got that one small break (and it would have been interesting to find out HOW her unspecified male relative somehow had learned to READ said notice with the laws so discouraging of literacy for slaves). Also, Aurelia's son, mother and unspecified male relative all seemed like they were middle class freedmen on their way to church NOT fugitive slaves who had had to flee through two hostile states to reach Alexandria.

 

    Yeah, I DO hope that's Silas's wounds prove fatal but I wouldn't be surprised if he survived long enough to try to frame Aurelia for it even though ALL she did was take what was due her (her salary).

 

      Mrs. Green must have gotten REALLY desperate to be urging Mr. Green to sign the Oath but what's odd that he actually become MORE resistant to it after being imprisoned.

 

     Interesting that Belinda's own missing brother had been in that very prison as a slave being sold off and neither she nor Mr. Green were shy mentioning it. I wonder if Mr. Green's 'haunting' could be regrets for HIS role in at the very least doing nothing to prevent Belinda's brother from having been sold off to parts unknown?  Good that Jimmy finally got guilted to sign on his father's behalf even though I don't any of them should trust him further  than they could throw him.

 

    I think Mary wasn't entirely selfless re staying with the dying deserter instead of meeting President Lincoln in that she likely felt a good amount of guilt re not being at her own late husband's deathbed when he died and was willing to roleplay the soldier's abandoning wife whilst she pretended the soldier was her own late husband.

   

    Will Miss Hasting and her co-conspirator attempt to strike again? Somehow I wouldn't be surprised.

 

    Even though this series had quite a few problems and inconsistencies, in showing how chaotic and volatile life became for folks of every possible background due to this war, I think this series had its merits and I'm interested to see how things conclude for everyone by the end of the Civil War.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Blergh

[FormerMod-a1]

I didn't expect the explosion plot would actually kill Lincoln, but I didn't know if the explosion would still happen and what casualties there'd be, even if it was just to the hospital or something.  It also showed that the plans to kill Lincoln were an on-going thing and not just the "success" at the theater on the night he was actually assassinated. 

 

I am really sick of Nurse Hastings and her bumbling doctor boyfriend characters.  

 

That said, I am enjoying this show and am said the season is already over.  I think I heard it's renewed, so that's good, but I am impatient and don't want to wait a year.  :)

[HoodlumSheep]

Although I know the odds of having Aurelia's family finding where she was going and meeting up with her before she was due to leave for parts unknown to all but Mary herself were incredulous, considering ALL that Aurelia had gone through in Alexandria, I'm glad she got that one small break (and it would have been interesting to find out HOW her unspecified male relative somehow had learned to READ said notice with the laws so discouraging of literacy for slaves). Also, Aurelia's son, mother and unspecified male relative all seemed like they were middle class freedmen on their way to church NOT fugitive slaves who had had to flee through two hostile states to reach Alexandria.

That was Samuel Diggs.

Liked this episode.

-They did leave some cliffhangers.

-Poor Mary basically relived her husbands death.

-Aurelia gets to be happy! Yay! And Sam's back! I don't care if him managing to find Aurelia's family was a little convoluted, I'm happy.

Also, do we know how much time had past between the last episode an this one? Enough time had to have passed where Aurelia could walk and move about again, so it has to be a couple weeks, shouldn't it? So it makes it slightly more believable than say, Sam disappearing for a couple of days and returning with her family.

I really hope Silas is dead, or will be dead when the show returns for season 2. That does present a problem for Aurelia, because she could easily be framed. The Silas/Aurelia scene surprised me. I wasn't expecting her to find the body (and then leave him there to die--you shouldn't have been a horrible person, Silas! Karma!). I guess I figured he'd be found dead by some no-name soldiers or Jed ore someone else.

Will Jed become a murder suspect? Will they find all the dynamite stuff? Is season 2 going to be more like a game of Clue? Except we know Frank's the culprit, but no one else seems to.

I like Chaplain Hopkins and Emma together. I worry for the Chaplain though, because if Frank gets jealous I imagine he'll try to murder him. But then again, the Chaplain can hold his own.

I don't care about Alice or Jimmy Green whatsoever. Mama and Papa Green are passable. They hold my interest a little. I like Emma.

Nurse Hastings can go. She owes Mary for not dismissing her, but I'm sure she'll be totally ungrateful towards Mary, regardless.

I like Bryon Hale's actor, so he can stay a little longer than Nurse Hastings. I'm a little disappointed though (although I guess I should have saw it coming due to the finale previews they had shown). Last episode's scene with Hale and Mary had me hoping he'd come to see the error of his way (or some of his ways). So him going extra evil this episode made me sad.

So Squivers was a one-off then? Or Forgotten about? I'm sad, I liked him.

I would live to see him (and Miles) again in season 2.

Frank's gonna have a burn on his chest. If the Union characters find the explosives, I wonder if they'll have the Chaplain or someone catch a glimpse of a burn on his chest and put two and two together and chase Frank out of town.

And yay for more Phoster! Josh R. And MEW have good chemistry. I'm happy that Mary x Jed is currently a slow-burn thing.

Edited February 22, 2016 by HoodlumSheep

[Milz]

There was a plot to kidnap Lincoln about 1864. They (Booth et al.) wanted kidnap Lincoln while he was en route from what's currently called The Lincoln Cottage located on the ground of the  Old Soldier's Home to the White House.  But blow him up like a pile of sticks, erm...no.

[HoodlumSheep]

There was a plot to kidnap Lincoln about 1864. They (Booth et al.) wanted kidnap Lincoln while he was en route from what's currently called The Lincoln Cottage located on the ground of the Old Soldier's Home to the White House. But blow him up like a pile of sticks, erm...no.

http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/the-diabolical-plot-ripped-from-the-headlines/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=MercyStreet_2016

This explains the diabolical plot and Knights of the Golden Circle plot. They are freely admitting to taking some creative liberties with some stuff, which I personally don't mind. I can see it driving some Civil War buffs crazy though.

**a tumblr friend estimated that we're somewhere in mid-june based on one of the characters saying chloroform couldn't be shipped until July and Foster mentioning it would be a fortnight before they got more chloroform.

So a month-ish has passed between episodes 5 and 6, then? Sounds good. Which means season 1 took place over the course of like a month, month-and-a-half.

Edited February 22, 2016 by HoodlumSheep

[AzureOwl]

Well, we don't know for sure that he is.  Was looking a bit poorly there, so there's hope.

 

Frank stabbed him in the kidney, it seemed. That's a nasty wound even with today's medical technology. it was certainly severe enough to leave him completely incapacitated, unable to move or cry for help. And he would've spent the better part of a day bleeding out in the storage closet. I will be seriously surprised if he comes back next season. 

[henripootel]

Frank stabbed him in the kidney, it seemed. That's a nasty wound even with today's medical technology. it was certainly severe enough to leave him completely incapacitated, unable to move or cry for help. And he would've spent the better part of a day bleeding out in the storage closet. I will be seriously surprised if he comes back next season. 

Well, there's hope then.  Didn't realize where the wound was but I do recall that it was axiomatic that, at that time, if you were wounded pretty much anywhere in gut you were doomed.  He was not a hugely exciting villain anyway but I was a bit gratified that the plot to short the chloroform supply fell apart almost immediately.  No honor among assholes, then, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

[Blergh]

OK,  I guess because I somehow didn't think a lone man with virtually no money or resources could somehow find Aurelia's mother and son with no surname and nothing more to go on than being from 'North Carolina' that's why I didn't believe it was Samuel himself. A poor defense I admit but that's what I've got. Anyway, as much as I'm glad Aurelia got to be reunited with them, I just didn't think that 'North Carolina' was the equivalent of a pinhead-sized village where one could instantly spot a random 7-year-old and instantly know whose child he was.

 

    It's interesting to me that Mr. Green appears to be having regrets over having been a participant in slavery (having been in the very prison in which his now-servant Belinda's brother had been a slave and sold away from)  -yet has become more reluctant to sign the Oath while his son and younger daughter seem more determined than ever to keep the institution growing. Even though Jimmy Green  DID sign the Oath at his mother's instance, I can't imagine he won't do something to screw everything up for the whole family before it's all over. And what would Alice Green have to offer to that organization besides being a 'comfort woman'? Will she stay with them even if Emma's pleas to President Lincoln  and Jimmy's signature spring Mr. Green?

Also, interesting that Belinda said she was NOT going to leave the Greens but while she may have just said that just to placate them at the moment, it DOES reflect what many older slaves felt re leaving the only   homes  and families they'd known even when they'd been mistreated by them.

 

 

   I wonder if Dr. Foster's good intents will prevail or will his morphine addiction resurface before the War's end? In any case with the hospital and (almost?) all the regulars still intact, it  should be worth sticking around for the conclusion, I think.

[BooksRule]

I didn't expect the explosion plot would actually kill Lincoln, but I didn't know if the explosion would still happen and what casualties there'd be, even if it was just to the hospital or something.  It also showed that the plans to kill Lincoln were an on-going thing and not just the "success" at the theater on the night he was actually assassinated.

 

I was interested in the 'who will live/who will die?' plot, even though I knew that Lincoln would be okay.  It did kind of fizzle out, though.  I would have like to see something go 'boom'.  

 

I like Chaplain Hopkins and Emma together.

 

 

I like the Chaplain too.  He's not hard on the eyes, either.  He's what one character on the British sitcom 'Keeping up appearances' would call a 'dishy vicar'.  

[Bunty]

And what would Alice Green have to offer to that organization besides being a 'comfort woman'?

 

There were quite a few women Confederate spies who passed on sensitive information and supplies in support of the Confederacy.

 

Maria Isabella "Belle" Boyd was one of the Confederacy's most notorious spies. She was born in May 1844 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) to a prosperous family with strong Southern ties.

 

Boyd frequented the Union camps, gathering information, and also acting as a courier.  . According to her memoirs (which were exaggerated) she managed to eavesdrop through a peephole on a Council of War while visiting relatives whose home in Front Royal, Virginia was being used as a Union headquarters.

 

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/maria-belle-boyd.html

 

Antonia Ford Willard (1838 – 1871)

    Spy for the Confederacy based in Virginia.

    Courier for Rose Greenhow.

    Reported on conversations between Union officers quartered in

    her house to General J.E.B. Stuart and Colonel John S. Mosby.

    Before the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), rode 20 miles by carriage and in the rain to warn Stuart about a Union plan  to  use Confederate colors (flags) to confuse his soldiers.

    Arrested in 1863 and imprisoned for spying and helping Colonel Mosby kidnap General Edwin H. Stoughton.

 

https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/spies/9.htm

 

[jschoolgirl]

Thanks, Bunty. (Are you a Mother Frances fan?)

I should have remembered women spies. But Alice ... I guess she's due to Steel Magnolia-Ize herself.

[blackwing]

I knew Aurelia wouldn't leave town, because that would mean she'd be off the show.

I don't think for an instance that Bullen is dead. He didn't die onscreen, therefore he will probably live. Hale will find him and save him.

Looking forward to next season. This season was portrayed in the media as "two nurses from different backgrounds work at a Union hospital". They made it seem like we were going to have Mary/Emma North/South conflict. We didn't really see much of that. Instead it was all Mary/Foster vs. Hastings/Hale

Still couldn't care less about Jimmy Green, his father or his mother.

[Clemency]

I just didn't think that 'North Carolina' was the equivalent of a pinhead-sized village where one could instantly spot a random 7-year-old and instantly know whose child he was.

 

 

Didn't Aurelia say Roanoke Island, specifically?  I thought she said that at one point.  I'm not sure how big Roanoke Island is, but it is more believable to me that her family could be found on an island than in the entire state of NC.

[jschoolgirl]

Didn't Aurelia say Roanoke Island, specifically?  I thought she said that at one point.  I'm not sure how big Roanoke Island is, but it is more believable to me that her family could be found on an island than in the entire state of NC.

Yes, she did.

[Bunty]

Thanks, Bunty. (Are you a Mother Frances fan?)

 

No, had to look her up.  Is this who you meant?

 

Born the daughter of a wealthy needle-factory owner, Frances had a reputation for generosity to the poor from an early age.  Mother Frances visited the U. S. in 1863 to help her sisters nurse wounded Civil War soldiers.  Mother Frances Schervier died Germany in 1876.

[jschoolgirl]

No, had to look her up. Is this who you meant?

Born the daughter of a wealthy needle-factory owner, Frances had a reputation for generosity to the poor from an early age. Mother Frances visited the U. S. in 1863 to help her sisters nurse wounded Civil War soldiers. Mother Frances Schervier died Germany in 1876.

No. I meant a key character in Maeve Binchy's book "Circle of Friends." I don't think she figures much in the eponymous movie, if at all. Bunty was her childhood nickname. Edited February 24, 2016 by jschoolgirl

[hoosiermommy]

Didn't Aurelia say Roanoke Island, specifically?  I thought she said that at one point.  I'm not sure how big Roanoke Island is, but it is more believable to me that her family could be found on an island than in the entire state of NC.

Roanoke Island is relatively small. Today it includes the towns of Manteo and Wanchese, for a total population of just over 6700 people. During the Civil War it was home to a Freedmen's Colony (founded in 1863, so not quite yet).

Another interesting fact is that Roanoke Island was the home of the first English Colony in the new world, and the birth place of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas. When the colony's governor retuned for supplies to England, he got stuck there for three years due to a war with Spain, and when he retuned, the colony had vanished.

[HoodlumSheep]

^ that's the island they've had mystery specials and stuff on!

What was the name of the prison Papa Green was being sent to? I missed it's name! I want to know because I recently watched a "Mysteries at the Museum/Castle" episode that involved a civil war prison that I want to know if it might be the same one. i can't remeber it's name though. It involved a bunch of prisoners gettig ill, and a man who was in prison for apparently being in cahoots with those who planned Lincoln's assassination. He ended up saving them all with his med knowledge after the prison doctor had died (he requested all floors to be cleaned with a solution, all sheets to be washed, and basically gave the prisoners stuff that would make them sweat (and vomit) away the illness. He was eventually released from the prison after the prisoners and prison staff petitioned the president to basically pardon him.

Was wondering if that's the same prison Green is heading to.

Edited February 24, 2016 by HoodlumSheep